"The pilot said it could go almost a thousand miles an hour," Rody told Midoriya as they watched the planes take off from Mother Base. The one they were focusing on was an F35, with the plane hovering over the ground before taking off.
"Wow, you think it's faster than All Might?" Midoriya asked curiously, watching as the jet soared into the sky.
"I don't know, how fast is All Might?" Rody replied, his eyes fixed on the flight deck.
"Well… he moves really fast, so I don't know," Midoriya commented, watching as an older jet, an F18 if Rody was correct, landed on the platform.
"Who would win in a fight, All Might or a pilot in an F18?" Rody asked him, starting the hypothetical question. Midoriya thought about his response for a moment.
"Well, All Might's really strong, but he can't fly. He only jumps high. But he's strong enough to punch the jet out of the sky." Midoriya concluded.
"But the jet's so high up, how would All Might punch it?" Rody countered, looking back over at the passing planes.
"With the wind, he punches up and the wind hits the plane," Midoriya answered.
"Huh, didn't know he was that strong," Rody muttered before coming up with a new question.
"What if it was five F18s? Could All Might win then?" Rody asked, eyeing the ground crew working on the F18 that landed. The pilot stepped out of the cockpit, and Rody wondered if that could be him one day.
"Are they all bunched up together?" Midoriya wondered, taking the hypothetical to the extreme.
"Like flying in formation?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm, I'll say no to this. They're spread out across the sky, at different heights and distances." Rody answered, looking back over to Midoriya.
"Then… hmm… It might be hard but I think All Might could win. He would have to be precise with his punches though." Midoriya replied.
"What if he doesn't know the planes are there?" Rody countered.
"If he doesn't know?"
"Yeah, like he doesn't spot it in time, or he just never notices it."
Midoriya thought about it carefully for a moment, attempting to find an answer to the question.
"If All Might doesn't know, then…" he couldn't think of how All Might could win. If he didn't know, then he would never know he was under threat. He wouldn't take cover or try to dodge or fight back. And sure he was tough, but he wasn't bulletproof. Looking back on it, Midoriya couldn't remember the last time someone had tried to kill All Might with anything but a quirk. Every fight involved a quirk he could shrug off easily. But could he shrug off a bullet? If so then how big is the bullet? He might shrug off a pistol, but Midoriya had seen the bigger guns the MSF had.
Then Midoriya spotted the missiles on the jets. One could carry at least four air-to-surface missiles, maybe more. That meant possibly twenty missiles, five 20mm machine guns, and All Might completely unaware. He tried to think of a way All Might could win, but every instant came into uncertainty. He didn't think it possible, but he realized All Might could lose.
"Then…um…"
He didn't know what to think of it, he had always thought of the hero as this unstoppable bastion. Was he as powerful as he seemed? He had to be, right? He started thinking about other hypotheticals that involved All Might not knowing. What if a chef poisoned his food, would All Might know? A sniper watching his every move five blocks away, would that kill him?
It couldn't, at least Midoriya hoped it couldn't. What if they cut his car's brakes, or placed a bomb under its seat? Would that kill him? Give him a disease, kill him in his sleep, drug him. He found a thousand different ways and wanted to write off that All Might would survive. His mind always found uses for quirks, yet he found the one time they wouldn't work. When the person in question, never knew their life was at stake.
"I… don't think he could win," Midoriya answered solemnly, the realization he made pressing down on him. This was supposed to be a calm day, one where they looked at jets fly by, now he was panicking about whether someone could kill All Might. He shook his head to clear his mind of it, refocusing on the flight deck.
This was it, Nagant's first mission, since all those years ago. She sat in the Blackfoot helicopter, with Snake going over the reports on the Idroid. It was supposedly an easy mission, Snake was infiltrating a small port, looking for information on the Brothers' whereabouts. The area was lightly guarded, with the majority of its forces being sent off to the front, so it should be mostly empty.
This was not the case, as she looked at the large mass of forces assembling. Snake had already made his way into the complex, with Nagant overlooking it on a small ridge. Armed with a Renov with tranq rounds, and her quirk, she was now thinking it wasn't enough. Long lines of T-72s, BMPs, grounded HINDs, self-propelled and towed artillery, and even BM-30 Multiple Rocket Launcher. And all of it was being packed onto a cargo ship, with hundreds of men, guns, and valuables.
"I count almost nineteen T-72s here Snake."
"The intel reports said the cartel had sixty-four originally. We destroyed forty-five in battle, so this must be the last of their armor."
"Well whatever they have left just entered the tanker, now they're loading the BMPs."
She saw Snake on the ground, ducking behind a large shipping container. He looked around the area carefully, spotting guards everywhere. He would grab a guard that got too close, choking him out quietly.
"Still, what are they loading the equipment for?" Nagant wondered aloud. As she said this, Snake silently gave a hand signal, motioning to a guard ahead of him. She took the shot with the Renov, the guard falling unconscious. Snake moved forward then, approaching a warehouse on the dock. He entered unnoticed.
Waiting for Snake to find something, Nagant examined the rest of her surroundings. The men on the ground hadn't noticed them yet, so they continued to load the ship. However, they had transferred from the vehicles to the shipping containers. She couldn't see what was in all of them, but she saw the contents of one.
"Snake, I've spotted lab equipment in one of the containers." she relayed, looking over its contents before it was packed up. It wasn't anything too unique, basic beakers and whatnot. But inside were also several barrels labeled with chemical warnings. It was impossible to tell what the chemicals were, but they were either drugs or used to make them.
"Anything specific inside?" Snake asked.
"No, just basic lab equipment. But there is a lot of it."
The container was closed up then, with it being loaded onto a crane. Wherever they were taking this stuff, they were doing it in a hurry. Unseen by Nagant, Snake had made it to the warehouse's office. The room was torn apart with everything stripped out. The majority of its files were burned and its furniture was stolen. He managed to find one piece of info in the form of a scorched Cuban flag pin.
"They're fleeing the country," Snake deduced over the codec, peeking out the window of the warehouse.
"They're almost ready to leave then, they just loaded the last container," Nagant replied, continuing to watch the ship. Everything was loaded, but the ship remained docked. Unmoving except for the slight wobble of the waves. She saw Snake then leave the office, hiding off to the side.
"I'm calling in an airstrike on the ship," Snake began, relaying the coordinates of the ship into his Idroid. The last of the cartel's equipment, bunched up into a single vessel. And it was on waiting to be destroyed. The jets came quickly, armed with air-to-surface missiles. The men on the ship didn't notice until it was too late. Missiles streaked toward and collided with the ship. Its hull and the explosives stored inside exploded in an instant. Metal boiled, with the ship slowly sinking into the waters. It stopped once it landed on a sandbank, its top barely peeking over the ways, with fires burning across it.
Inside the president's office, Snake showed Sainz what they had managed to find, with Maria standing nearby. The Brothers had fled to Cuba. They managed to find and track a private plane flying out of the jungle in Venezuela. That plane was listed as not existing, so it was investigated by the Intel team. And they found The Brothers walking out of it in a Cuban airport.
"Can you catch them?" Sainz asked as he held his cigar away from the paper.
"It'd be easy, if there wasn't one complication," Snake began," they're under the HPSC's protection."
After leaving the airport the Brothers had been spotted entering a limo, surrounded by heroes. The limo was escorted down to the HPSC's main office in the area, where they were taken inside.
"Of course, the HPSC intervenes now," Maria commented.
"They were involved much earlier actually, the HPSC demanded I hand over some of our AA systems. I assumed they were being given to the cartel." Sainz replied.
"Were they Patriot systems?" Snake asked.
"Newly bought, cost a fortune," Sainz confirmed.
"This is good though, we know where they are now, so we can take them out swiftly." Maria optimistically told them.
"Well that begs the question, do you want them alive or dead? If the latter, then we can send a suicide drone over right now. If the former, then it might take a while." Snake said looking over the documents carefully.
"They've already had their trial," Sainz told them, "And the HPSC helped them escape five separate times. No, I want them back here in a casket."
"What about the info on Night Owl?" Maria asked, looking over to Snake.
"Trail on him has gone cold, he hasn't been spotted since I was in Japan," Snake answered.
"So he's gone."
"For now."
Maria let out a frustrated sigh. She stopped when she thought she heard something. Sainz and Snake didn't notice this though, instead changing the topic to something else. She decided to peek out the window behind her, swearing she could hear something. Looking out, the entire street below looked to be in chaos. Civilians were running from something, but she couldn't see what.
"Mr. President, we have a situation," she said looking back over to him. Snake got up and walked over to the window, standing next to her. He looked out himself, seeing a small black dot getting closer, before shoving Maria off to the side. He dived out of the way, as a car was thrown through the window. It lodged itself in the floor, as a loud voice yelled out.
"Ooooh Presidente! Why don't you come on out here!? I got a nice party waiting just for you!" it was a hoarse voice, with an Australian accent. Snake looked out the destroyed wall, watching as a skinny man came walking down the road. Three other cars floated around him, with the man pretending to juggle them with his hands.
He felt Maria nudge him a little, as he turned to find her holding out a Tavor assault rifle. Snake grabbed in quietly, never letting his eyes leave the individual in front of him.
"Really, Presidente hiding, I'm getting boreeeed out here!" the man exclaimed, chucking another car into the government building. It crashed through another wall and screams were heard throughout the halls. Snake waited, finding a clear shot available. He fired the rifle, the rounds soaring at the man, before stopping dead in the air. They simply floated like cars.
"Well then, you must be Big Boss. I've heard a lot about you mate!" Snake rolled out of the way, as a second car was thrown at him. The man laughed at this, clearly enjoying it.
"Ho ho ho! A tricky little bugger aren't ya."
Snake looked back at him, holding down the trigger on the Tavor. The magazine emptied yet the man was able to block the bullets with the final car. The car was then lifted and dropped over Snake. It landed, with Snake barely getting out of the way. The car crushed the ground beneath it, flattening what was left of the wall.
"You deal with him, I'll protect the President!" Maria called out to him. Snake then charged at the man, tackling him to the ground. He tried to restrain the assassin but was knocked off by a trashcan ramming into him.
"Now things are getting interesting, let's have fun, shall we!" The assassin lifted anything metal around them. With the flick of his hand benches and signposts were ripped out of the ground, now flying at Snake. He avoided the signs, but a bench crashed into him. His ribs cracked from the impact, yet Snake kept moving forward. The assassin then held his hands out in front of him, magnetically pulling the bench back. Snake held onto it, grabbing a smoke grenade that tried to get away.
He pulled out the pin, letting the assassin's powers do the rest. The grenade floated around him before the smoke emerged. The assassin started coughing as he attempted to look through the cloud of smoke.
"That's cheating right there Big Boss! Face me like a man!"
Snake snuck away then, hiding behind a car the assassin dropped. The smoke began to clear then, the sign poles being combined to form a fan. The assassin looked around the area, finding Snake gone.
"You sniveling coward!" the assassin yelled out, rapidly searching the area. Snake crawled around, making sure to stay out of sight. He slowly approached the assassin, the man still searching the area. The assassin threw another car at a wall, checking behind it. He grumbled in anger as Snake got closer.
"This is the Big Boss I've been hearing about!? You're nothing but a damn coward! Face me!"
He threw everything around him away, leaving the area wide open. He looked around finding nothing, and crushed a streetlamp with his hand.
"Where are you!?"
He never not a verbal response, as Snake grabbed him from behind. The assassin struggled, and tried to hit him, but slowly lost consciousness. The man collapsed to the ground, and Snake let go. He took a moment to rest as he checked his surroundings. Civilians slowly came out of hiding, with some looking at Snake. Maria ran up to him then, checking on the unconscious assassin.
"Nice work." She complimented quickly checking the assassin for any weapons.
"The President?" Snake asked.
"Doing fine," Maria replied, "had him escorted to a secure location."
Snake looked back up then, a crowd of civilians seemed to have formed around them. The majority looked between the assassin and Snake. A news team had also shown up, filming and interviewing the people, with the police attempting to secure the area. Then something else was heard, a new loud voice.
"Have no fear citizens! The heroes have arrived!" Several heroes landed in fact. They varied in costume, stretching from the incredulously strange, to ludicrously stupid. One was dressed as a fridge. They looked around expectantly for some sign of applause for a moment before the lead one stepped forward. Against the police's and Maria's wishes the hero grabbed and cuffed the assassin, said assassin now stirring back awake.
"Uhh, what the hell?" the assassin stated, finding the gloved hands carrying him away.
"It was foolish to think you could have won villain." The hero told him, continuing to walk away.
"Who the fuck are you, ya dumb c-"
"Silence villain! We will not suffer your wrath anymore."
"Sure you spandex fuck." the assassin replied before his eyes fell on Snake.
"You little fuck! I'll tear you apart for this Big Boss! You think you'll get away with this, you conniving coward! I'll rip your throat out and-" he never finished, the hero leaping away to some far-off distance.
"Take care citizens!"
"In other news, the villain Magnetic was successfully arrested in Colombia, due to the tireless efforts of Infini Leap and his sidekicks. Authorities are still unsure how the villain managed to escape prison, however, they are grateful for his quick capture. For Infini Leap, President Sainz is stated to be giving him the Police Star Order as thanks for his actions. The scheduled ceremony is slated for…"
The operation was a failure. They had tasked Magnetic to assassinate President Sainz, in a live public attack. It would draw forth media personnel to the catastrophe, to witness one villain rip apart Bogota unchallenged. Which would ultimately be stopped, by the conveniently visiting hero Infini Leap. They had achieved one goal, the attack was broadcast all over Colombia and made news in other countries that they allowed.
However Magnetic failed to kill Sainz, and even worse he wasn't stopped by the heroes. The President wanted to throw the remote at her TV, the moment she saw Big Boss standing next to the unconscious assassin. He was there and had yet again thwarted her. They had to censor the story the moment he showed up, rewriting the entire story from scratch. She could only hope the attack was enough to force more heroes into the country. She sighed angrily when she heard the clack of spurs approaching.
"Problem mam?" Ocelot asked, spinning his revolvers in hand.
"Get me Techno, I want to raise the bounty on Big Boss. Tell him to go from forty to a hundred," she replied, changing the channel to a different news broadcast. All had Big Boss's face on it, even if no one knew he was important.
"Will do," Ocelot responded, preparing to walk away.
"Oh, and Ocelot, I need you to pay someone a visit. Something of utmost importance."
When many people think of the military, they think of the big things. The tanks, the fighter jets, the massive guns, and equally massive explosions. The sweltering heat in a HUMVEE, the firing of a minigun in a helicopter. What they don't think of, is the smaller stuff, the trucks driving fuel, bullets, guns, spare parts, clothes, letters and packages from home, the screws, the nails, the individual pieces of paper. Or the construction crews building bases, digging out trenches, flatting our airfields, or in Ape's case, relief efforts.
"Come on damn it! Put your back into it heave!" the CO ordered, as Ape and the other soldiers lifted the wooden frame. The support department had run out of cranes, and the logistics for more arriving had been delayed. So they were rebuilding a Venezuelan town, by hand. Struggling to get a good hold on the frame, Ape and the others lifted. They shifted as the frame made it up, finally resting in place. He wiped the sweat from his brow before he moved to lift another frame.
Children ran around in the bombed-out town behind him, as some of the townsfolk came to assist in reconstruction. The Militia they had trained provided overwatch as they built. It was a long humid day, yet Ape continued forward. He again with the other soldiers hoisted the frame up, holding it carefully. Then pushed it into place.
"Holy shit it's hot." Eagle cried out, wiping the sweat away with his fatigues.
"I heard they got drinks nearby," Ape told him, moving to lift another frame.
"It better be with an AC," Eagle commented, helping hoist up the frame.
"Afraid those haven't arrived yet. And isn't your codename 'Desert Eagle'" Ape joked.
"Oh hardy har har," Eagle replied sarcastically. And on they worked, rebuilding the shelled remnants of the town.
Huey looked at his newest prototype, a small maneuverable bipedal walker. It wasn't perfect, it could not stand upright, but Soul had been a great help in its advancements.
"So the controls are based on the ones on ZEKE." Soul surmised.
"Somewhat, this is more of a scaled-down version, however. So some controls were ultimately unnecessary."
"It's surprisingly agile if the simulation is correct. I wonder what else we could make with this kind of tech." Soul wondered aloud as he tightened the bolts on the prototype's leg.
"Who knows," Huey replied, the man adjusting the controls themselves. He would move its other leg, and it would kick out. The force of the kick would shatter its joints, the leg now dangling off a wire.
"Of course, it still has some kinks to work through first," Huey noted, mentally ensuring that if the prototype were successful, ZEKE would be different.